Over a Broken Window
by SasoDeiFan
Summary: Ryou..." She stuttered. Shirogane came in close, she tilted her head up, she could feel his breath now. Ichigo smiled but it faded quickly when their lips met. He held held her waist close and she grasped his hair. She was so fragile, like a flower.
1. Chapter 1

It was Sunday, and Ichigo had nothing to do.

She didn't have to work today, there was no school, and her parents weren't home. She figured she could sleep all day, but that would throw her internal schedule off. She could call Aoyama, but that wouldn't go anywhere, she thought. He was too busy in England with school. And she had stayed behind, she _knew _she should have gone along with him. But it was too late, there was no use chastising herself. Ichigo found herself laying lifelessly in her room, on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

"What to do, what to _do_." She thought aloud. The silence was eating at her. With a grunt, she grabbed her bag containing her phone, her wallet and house keys, and was on her way to the cafe. What were they going to do? Throw her out just because she wasn't working today? She didn't think so. Before walking out the door, she studied her appearance. Her bright red hair was pinned in neat pig tails, though she was getting a little old for such a childish hair style, it suited her, and she refused to change it. Her blouse was cut into a V neck, colored yellow, slimming her figure. Her shorts were black and white checkered, coming a few inches above her knees. For shoes, she wore just a normal pair of thongs. "Good to go," she figured and left the house, locking the door behind her.

The weather was nice outside, bright and sunny, there were hardly any clouds, complete opposite of what the weather man had reported earlier. The streets were full of people on their way to work or to a near store, she herself walking, having not owning a car. This special bakery was the hot spot in town, and she could admit that she was proud to be an employee there. She figured that the cafe was closed right about now, but unlocked and opened the heavy doors anyways. She was immediately greeted by Lettuce and Pudding. "Ichigo, Ichigo!" Pudding ran to grab the red head's hand and pull her farther into the store. "You'll never guess what Shirogane-oniichan bought us all for breaking record sales last month!" The blond was always in the best mood, nothing ever seemed to put her down. So Ichigo smiled, greeted her, smiled at Lettuce and continued to Shirogane's office in the back of the store to find out what Pudding had been talking about. Summer vacation had just started last week and things were already going great.

As she entered the office, she found that it was quite empty, rather than usual, the walls were a bland white. The carpet was torn out to revieal cement. The only thing present in the room was the desk and Ryou's computer perched on top. She hesitated to speak, studying the room quietly. "We're redecorating." Ryou said, without turning from the computer screen. She continued to walk further into the room to his desk, propping herself up on the top of his chair, peering over the top of his head. "What's that you're working on, Ryou?" She asked curiously. He cradled his head with his one fist and scrolled down the window.

"Nothing." He answered monotone. She couldn't stand his one word answers. So she attempted to start again a conversation.

"What was it that Pudding was talking about? She said you bought something for the record sales last months," There wasn't an answer for a long while. She grew impatient quickly and shook his chair, hard. He recoiled from the shock and sternly grabbed her arm. He pulled her close.

"You can't _do_ that to me." She scoweled, not making effort to escape his grasp, they were almost nose to nose.

"You can't _ignore_ me, Shirogane Ryou." His facial expression was full of anger, but quickly sofened to show a smile. He tried to hide it, but failed as he let go of Ichigo's arm and turned back to the desktop. She thought he was just going to blow her off again and continue with his work, but instead he pulled up a seprate page on the internet from what he was already working on and motioned for her to it on the arm of his chair. He pointed at a picture of a new cafe uniform. It was beautiful! The bow in the back was bigger than before, the color was more vibrant and the laces were just, ten times over, more gorgeous than before. "Oh, Ryou, that's just beautiful! I love it!" He kept the smile from before, facing her now.

"That's good, it'll suite you. It'll be here later on today." And with that, he rose from the chair, opened the door and left the room. Ichigo just looked at the dress, wondering when it would arrive and just when would she be able to wear it! Over joyed, she closed the computer window and hurried out the office door to the kitchen of the cafe to greet the others. Zakuro was there, sweeping. Ichigo waved and continued forward. Her stance was tall and her swagger was childish. Being that she was sixteen years old and still had the heart of a ten year old, her personality was vibrant and positive.

"Good morning, Zakuro, where are the others?" Zakuro didn't speak, the same as always, she avoided walking as much as posible. She haulted her brooming and pointed in the direction of the cafe's storage room, than kept on sweeping. Ichigo's smile sort of diminished, where a confused look replaced it. "The storage closet?" Zakuro nodded. "Oh, thanks." She left the kitchen into the small closet, stopping the door slightly ajar. Ichigo opened it further, peering inside to see Mint, Pudding, and Lettuce handeling boxes.

"Oh, Ichigo! I thought it was your day off?" She nodded her head and walked further inside. "Well we just got a new shipment of dishes in today and these are all the extras. So we're storing these away." Ichigo's smile returned as she reached for a cardboard box, she began stacking.

"Need any help?" She asked a little late, throwing a glance over her shoulder. Mint answered as quickly as her vocal chords would allow.

"Yeah! And perfect timing, it's my tea break." With that, she was out of the small closet and into the kitchen with Zakuro. It was about twenty more minutes before the three of them finished and returned to the lobby to open shop. All the lightes were lit, the classical music started to play soft in the background. Ichigo sat backwards in a chair, facing towards the front counter next to Mint, who was drinking tea. Lettuce walked to the front door to change the sign outside from closed to serving. It was almost like there were people sitting out front, waiting for the Cafe to open, because they immediantly started to pour through the door. Mint stood up, washed out her tea cup and started seating costomers happily. The time seemed to fly by, Ichigo had been sitting in the same place for a couple hours, talking to the others and eating a fresh strawberry cheesecake she had paid for and taken from the kitchen.

She was in the middle of taking a bite when a tall man stepped up to the counter, holding a clipboard. Zakuro motioned for her to meet her at the counter. Ichigo stood and saundered over to the two, chewing all the way there. "What's up?" She rocked back and forth on her heels.

"Mr. Asaki has the order of dresses that Shirogane-san has purchased," Ichigo flashed a smile, blushing she was so excited. She was quick to call dibbs on fetching Ryou.

"I'll go get him, Lettuce."

"He's probably in his room."

"'Kay," The strawberry was on her way, climbing the stairs to Shirogane's room. She used every excuse to talk to Ryou. There were so many steps, and she had always hated walking them, but right now, she didn't seem to mind much. His door became visable from the top of the stairs. She was so excited, that she had forgotten to knock. The door flung open to reviel a half naked blonde, standing in only his boxers. This had happend once before, and it was just as awkward as the first time. She stood frozen in the door way, he stood still next to his bed. "Uh, Ry-Shirogane-" She stuttered.

"You never call me by my last name." He questioned.

"Ryou," She corrected, he smiled and looked down to grab his pants that he had dropped when the door had suddenly flown open.

"What brings you up here?" He pulled on his pants, one leg at a time, than buckled them tight. She watched him get dressed.

"There's a man downstairs who has the... dresses you showed me earlier," Her eyes were lingering on his toned chest and stomach, he was always selfconsience about his body, like a female. But he was too handsome to be female. She wondered why he didn't put his shirt on straight away. Or was it that he's comfertable around her? He knew exactly what she was thinking. And he wanted her too. His face was stunning, and she probably had a stupid look on hers, knowing that was the way she was half the time. He answered her broken up statment.

"Well what do I have to do with it? I already paid." She nodded.

"He needs the conformation number."

"Can't he just hand them over?"

"No. Atleast... I don't think so." He posture became poor as she leaned against the open door. "Those are the rules." He sighed and waved her in.

"The paper is in the bottom drawer of my closet if you really want it that bad." As she entered farther into the room, she brushed her hand against the door, pushing it shut by mistake. There was no way that she had noticed though, she was already at the bottom of his closet by now, searching the drawer of papers.

"Found it?" He asked, pulling a black shirt over his head and stepping near her.

"No, what does it look like?" She turned her head to find that he was inches away from her, bent down next to her, reaching over her into the drawer. She staid like that for a while. Or so it seemed like a while.

"You're all red." He looked behind him, "And your tail is brushing up against my back." Ryou laughed and pulled the paper out, handing it to her. She was crouched in his closet, a boy nearly on top of her, and her _tail_ had popped out. To ruin it, Ichigo takes the cake. She stood up fast, looking down at him.

"I'm not red!" She challenged him with her eyes, and his were so soft looking, blue. There had always been this feeling of want she had twords him, and vise versa. But she always had Aoyama there for her. He was the one that took her places, bought her things, and told her he loved her. But thinking back, a bit harder now, she saw that Ryou had always done the same things, in different ways. And for that, she felt like a jackass. Ryou stood up next to her and took her hand.

"Yes, your face is pretty pink." She looked down at the hand that he was holding. Now she was pretty sure that her face was burning hot.

"The conformation number is there," He pointed at a blue number on the cluttered paper. "Yeah, that should work fine." His smile was too charming for her not to smile back at. He gave her a push to the door and she stumbled out of it and down the stairs. Walking down to the front counter took a while longer than it should have, being that she couldn't get her mind off of how much she wanted him. She carried the paper to the man in brown.

"Okay, now that we have the conformation number, I can bring in the packages." Lettuce's attention was drawn to the stairs, than back to the delivery man.

"Shirogane-san, this man has the order you sent for." He nodded in response and continued down the stairs. He wasn't grining anymore, not like he had been while Ichigo was in his company.

"Sure, let's go bring it all in than." The two men hauled the dresses into the shop through the back door, setting the boxes neatly on the floor. None of them could wait to see the beautiful new uniforms. As the blonde used his car keys to tear open the first box, the mews were on the tips of their toes. The first dress was removed from the package and pudding went crazy, soon she was gone, to the bathroom to change into it. Next was Mint, than Lettuce, than Zakuro. Ichigo was the last to recieve her dress. Close after, she disappeared to the nearest bathroom to swap outfits. Quickly, she pulled off her shirt, removed her pants and slipped into her dress. There was a zipper in the back that she couldn't quite reach, but she figured that she would just have someone zip it up in the back. Looking in the mirror, she took her hair down and brushed it down neatly, fixed her makeup and walked out the bathroom door, holding her dress up. She tip toed down the hallway back to the kitchen. She entered the room and looked around to see that she was the only person in there. Quietly she waited for someone to show up.

Ryou entered carrying a handful of dishes, setting them down in the sink. She held on to her sagging, open dress. Ryou stepped near her. "Need any help there?" He asked, gesturing twards the back of her dress. She nodded and turned around, still keeping tight on her grip.

"Just zip it up, I couldn't reach it."

"Sure," Ryou grabbed her zipper with one hand and set his other hand on the small of her back, sliding it around her hip to her waist. She flinched, pulling forward slightly, but quickly relaxing. He slowly zipped up her dress, stepping closer and closer to her until his pelvis touched her spine. When he reached the top of the fabric, and the zipper couldn't go any further, he reached forward to grasp the two ends of a ribbon, bringing them back to tie them in a bow around her back. He didn't let go right away, he stayed close, holding onto her. She melted into his arms, than turned around to face him, pelvis to pelvis. He fed his arms aroun her, keeping her close. They stared at eachother, eye to eye, she wove her hands to hold his shoulders.

"Ryou..." She stuttered. Shirogane came in close, she tilted her head up, she could feel his breath now. Ichigo smiled but it faded quickly when their lips met. Thirty seconds seemed to feel like hours, and he made her feel like it was a good decision to come to the cafe today. She had been waiting a while for this moment. His hands held her waist, she was so delecate, like a flower. Their embrace was broken quickly when the others entered the room dressed in the new uniform. She pushed him away and held her hand over her mouth. Mint smiled and opened her mouth the speak.

"I knew it, I knew it!" Ichigo looked at her deeply, than asked,

"Knew what?" Mint's face became bright.

"Knew that you two were going to hook up after Aoyama was out of the picture." Ryou laughed.

"That's not the way it is! I- We-," Ryou blocked her view from Mint, stepping in front of Ichigo.

"But that is the way it is, Ichigo." There wasn't the same grin on his face anymore, it was extremely serious. He was right, and she coulsn't hide it. Though she felt terrible for feeling this way, knowing that, even if she had still been with Aoyama, but Ryou made a move, she would have chosen him over the tan. She looked him in the eye.

"I like the dress, I think it looks good on me." She faked a smile. "Thanks, Ryou." And she attempted her escape out of the room, but Akasaka stopped her by asking for a group picture.

"Please, I'd like you all the crowd together for a nice group picture," Ichigo stalled, Mint was shooting her knowing looks as she walked over to stand next to Zakuro, who was stanging next to Lettuce. Pudding kneeled in the front. Ryou pushed Ichigo into the front next to himself. Akasaka focused the camera and snapped the picture. Everyone just stayed in their place for a while, untill Akasaka motioned them to move back to normal activity.

"Well, I think I'll head back home." Ichigo put out there, turning to the door. "And I have the day off tomorrow too, so see you Tuesday."

"Um, we're closed tomorrow anyways, so yeah, see you Tuesday." Called Lettuce.

"Yeah, bye," She curved down the hall to the bathroom, changing back into her clothes and brushing her hair down with her fingers. The mew gathered the dress and folded it nicely, returning it to the dressing cabinet with her name on it, and left the employee's bathroom. Ichigo quickly made her way out of the cafe and out onto the busy roads of the town. It was almost five-thirty, so her parents would most likely already be home by now. It was hot and humid outside. Very different from this morning. She gazed at the sky, checking the weather. The clouds were rolling in fast and the atmosphere became thick. She felt a drop hit her face, raising a hand to wipe it off, she sped up to get home. She sure wished she had a car right about now.

When she arrived home, she was soaked, digging in her bag for her house key. Her small hand grasped the key and she was quick to thrust it in the keyhole. Ichigo stepped inside as fast as she could, slamming the door behind her. Her mother greeted her at the door.

"Oh, honey, I didn't think that you had work today." Ichigo shook her head and started stripping her bag off, heading to the bathroom.

"I didn't." Ichigo's mood was ruined thanks to Mint, for giving the truth and embarassing her in front of Ryou. She knew her face was still red. She knew her hair was a mess, she knew that she must look extremely ruined. She knew her mother was talking to her, but her thoughts were overwhelming and wouldn't allow her to listen.

"...take a shower?" Her mother's words trailed out slowly. Yes, she would love to relax for a bit.

"I'll be in the bath, Mom," she answered, and started to the wash room. She took a long bath, staying in there for about an hour or so. Wrapping herself in a towel and whiping the haze off of the mirror, she checked her appearence. She left the wash room, and dressed in her bedroom. Her strawberry pjs hugged her, reminding how tired she was. She crawled into bed, seven forty-five. She listened to the rain beat against the roof until it silenced and soothed to to sleep.

Her phone rang, the caller ID read 'Ryou'. 4:29 AM.

**Tokyo Mew Mew fanfic! Tell me what you think, because I'm not to sure I like it at all. Review Review Review Review Review Review.**


	2. Chapter 2

_She crawled into bed, seven forty-five. She listened to the rain beat against the roof until it silenced and soothed her to sleep. Her phone rang, the caller ID read 'Ryou'. 4:29 AM._

She didn't think twice before reaching for her cell phone and answering the call. She used her left hand to brush through her hair, and used her right hand to hold the phone. She put her sleeping wear, bra and panties, back in order.

"Hello?" She said in a fake voice, trying to cover up that he had woken her.

"Hey, look, I'm really sorry to be calling you this early," The truth was, she didn't care, she had seemed to have forgotten about being embarassed earlier and went back to wooing over the sound of his voice like normal.

"No, no, it's okay, I couldn't sleep anyways." She smiled to herself, sitting up and grabbing a pillow to hold.

"Oh, okay. Well someone threw a brick through the front window of the cafe and trashed the place. Since the rest of the girls worked yesterday, and you didn't, I need you down here to help out. I'll pay you overtime." She inwardly sighed. Even though she would love to spend the morning with Ryou, she didn't want to clean up, especially on her day off. She hung her head and cradled her face in her palm. "You don't have to come if you don't want, I'm just saying, we need some help over here." She inhaled and fake smiled, as if he were there, right next to her.

"Sure, and I guess that you need me there this minute?" She asked, knowing that if he called at this hour, he needed her there this hour. This was something that couldn't wait for noon. She heard Akasaka in the background, and Ryou talking to him. There was a pause, and she waited patiently.

"Uh, yeah, we need you here as soon as possible." She started to get out of bed and headed for her closet, tripping over herself as she walked. She tried to hide her irritated tone. "Do you need a ride? I know you don't have a car." She inwardly kicked herself. It was going to be dark outside and she had to walk. Of course she needed a ride. But it seemed like too much of a hassle.

"No, I don't, but thanks anyways. I'll just walk." She answered, reaching into her closet to grab some jeans. She started to pull them on, with only one hand, the other hand, holding her cell phone. She had declined because she didn't want to be a bother.

"That doesn't seem like a smart idea. Why don't you let me pick you up?" She zipped her jeans and went for the shirt, also pulling that over her head with one hand, and the phone.

"I'm fine Ryou, I'll walk." It was nice of him, but seemed like too much of a hassle.

"I can't let you do that, Ichigo, now that I know that you're going to be by yourself." She had successfully dressed herself. She exhaled and put one hand on her hip, looking for her shoes, but only finding her slippers.

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine-" There was the sound of keys on the other side of the phone line.

"It'll be dark and there are crazy people out there, Ichigo, crazy people that like pretty girls like you. I'm on my way to your house, I'll be picking you up." Ugh, he sounded like her mother. Their relationship was 'I-can't-believe-he's-talking-to-me', / 'he's-such-an-idiot', and she loved it. There was a click, signaling that he had hung up on her, but she talked into the receiver anyways, completely missing the hidden compliment he had given her.

"No, Ryou!" She shoved her phone into her back pocket and grabbed her house key. In slippers, she walked out the front door to the Mew Mew Cafe. It was darker outside than she thought it would be. And it was alot more silent than she ever pictured it to be. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for her to walk. Maybe she should have taken up his offer for a ride. But there was no turning back now, she had already made herself look like an ass. Now, all she had to do, was walk hurriedly to the Cafe and get there without getting abducted. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't said anything to her parents about leaving. So if she ever were abducted than the police would never know where to look! She started to worry herself now. She tried not to look behind, or beside her. It was only about a fifteen minute walk from her house to the Cafe. She could do it. Or maybe she couldn't do it?

She tried to get her mind off of the threat of a dirty old pedophile and tried to think of something more pleasant. Like when she had said her goodbyes to Kisshu after defeating Deep Blue. He had been so sweet to her, he had made her wish that he wasn't leaving after all.

"Can't you just come home with me? My people would accept you how you are. There would be no pollution anymore after having obtained the mew aqua. There would be no judgments of each other, or hurt. Can't you just please, come along with me?" He took her hand and assured her that it would be the better choice. She humbly declined.

"Earth is my home, Kisshu. I can't leave it, I have to stay." This would be the last time that she would ever have to turn him down, this would be the last time that they would meet, and the mark of the last time she never got the hint that he was only battling against her because he loved her. Though all the time they spent together was full of bickering and hurting each other, she was happy to have gotten to peacefully part. She let his hand go and stepped back, waving good bye.

"You're sure?" She nodded.

"I'm sure." They shared a smile as she started to speak again. "Even though the love I hold for you isn't the love that you had hoped it would be," She took Aoyama's hand and looked deep into his eyes. He just stared back at her, the rest of the mews behind them. "I won't forget you. I promise." Kisshu agreed. He started away, the sky rippling around him, when he turned to face the tan.

"Glad you're the man that gets her after all."

In the time that she had been thinking to herself and walking fast enough to beat a bus around the corner, she had found her more than half way to her destination.

And there were headlights.

She looked up from the ground. It wasn't Ryou's car. The headlights were turned off and the car slowed. She started to walk faster. The car came to a stop, and the door opened. From the car, emerged a tall figure. She pushed herself and quickened the pace, but there wasn't a long distance at high speeds that her slippers would take her. She thought about transforming and her hand flew to her neck where the pendant lain. But she wasn't quick enough, there was a hand on her arm, pulling her to the car. She was so caught up that she didn't hear the figure calling her name, and didn't hear his familiar voice. She didn't hear Ryou tell her that he was there now. She pulled in the opposing direction of the car and started the call.

"MEW MEW MET-" She started, but quickly lost her footing and stumbled into a near puddle, produced from the rain the night before. Her yell was short as she laid in the cold water. When she jumped up, she met Ryou's face and felt extremely stupid. Her slippers were soaked, along with the rest of her clothes.

"Ichigo, why the scare? I told you that I was on my way picking you up." She laughed. Not because the situation was funny. Not because someone cracked a joke, but because this was the second time in twenty four hours that last night's storm had soaked her and she was going insane with embarrassment now. "But I see that you left to walk by yourself anyways." He smiled and helped her to the car. Both of them had their minds on the kiss that they had shared the day before, the whole ride to the cafe. Neither spoke for what seemed like a while, but could have only been a couple minutes.

"So, where's your car?" She asked, looking over to him, hugging the towel that he had gotten out of the trunk for her. He kept his eyes on the road as he answered.

"They got my car too, it's worthless. There's no passenger seat door or windshield. This is Akasaka's." Now she felt even worse. First he has to drive over to pick her up at four in the morning on a holiday, second, she soaks his car with her newly obtained rain water. And third, the car belonged to Akasaka. But there were nothing but smiles when she realized that other than the hassle that she had brought on her friends, that she was in the car alone with her man. Or who she wanted as her man. Who she had already half way won as her man.

"Well, I'll have to apologize to him for soaking the passenger seat." She laughed. He joined her.

When they arrived at the cafe, she observed that the front window had been shattered in and broken, the broken pieces of glass scattered about the property. There was a police car parked out in the street and Keiichiro talking to an officer, next to that was what was left of the blond's car. The car was put into park and Ryou shut off the engine. They both removed themselves from the vehicle and headed into the mew mew cafe. The lights were on. Or some of them at least. The others had been smashed and broken, laying among knocked over tables and chairs. The large menu behind the main counter had been torn down completely. Ichigo stood in surprise at the trashed work place. There were pastries smeared about the walls and glass everywhere. They must have gotten to the kitchen too. How could someone do this to such a beautiful place? Ryou put used his hand on her back to guide her up to his bedroom.

"When did this happen?" She asked as they asended the stairs. The blond hesitated to answer, not becausse he didn't know, or that it would hurt anybody, but because he was trying to find an excuse to be alone with her. He had already gotten this far as to get her to come up to the cafe, though it had it's side effects.

"A couple hours ago. I waited as long as I could to contact you." He lied. It had happened just a few minutes ago. Maybe a half hour. He had called as soon as Akasaka had brought up the idea to call a mew to help out. "We had to call so early because, as you know, Tuesday, we're open, and we have to have all this cleaned up by then." That was untrue. They were so popular with teenage girls for business that they had the money to be able to shut down for a day or two. Now he had thought of something to keep her to himself. "You can't stay in those soaked clothes. Either put on your uniform or clothes of mine, you can't be out of work with a cold." She _wanted_ to wear his clothes, but something was telling her to just wear the uniform. He started to sift through his closet, retrieving some papers, maybe proof or something for the cop outside. She didn't care to stick around to hear about legal stuff. So she headed to the employee bathroom around the upstairs corner.

Once there, she produced her new cafe uniform that she just couldn't wait to wear. Removing her shirt and her pants, she slid on the dress. But once again, she couldn't zip the back all the way up. Did it seem slutty to go back to him a second time to zip up her dress? Or maybe it wasn't slutty, maybe it just made her look like she was incapable of taking care of herself. So she tried again to close the dress, but just couldn't get it shut all the way. The child in her was coming out again as she stomped her feet and headed out the door way again. She hesitated at his bedroom door, that was now shut. Her hand was ready to knock, balled in a fist, knuckles facing the door. She didn't want to come off as needy, so she slowly backed up on her way to the bathroom again. She dragged her feet back to the spot where her wet clothes lie.

Maybe it was ten minutes that she spent in the bathroom by herself, trying to zip up the back of her dress. She tried everything, zipping it in the front, than turning it around. That worked until she had to put her arms in the holes. She tried bending backwards to increase the length in her arms, but that totally didn't work. So she sat in the middle of the floor, holding her soaked clothes, wondering if she could bear just wearing them until they had achieved cleaning up the place. She felt the cold air dancing on her exposed skin. There was a knock on the door. She stared in the direction of the noise, who she knew was Shirogane. The blond knocked again.

"Are you alright in there? It's been a while since you first went in there." He asked. That was good that he was checking up on her, but now she was going to seem extremely incapable no matter what. And it was worse now, that hse had spent so long on something so stupid.

"Um, yeah... I kinda, need some help." She stood up and walked to the door, opening it and throwing her wet clothes to the side. His face turned into some sort of an amused expression as he spun her around to hold the zipper, moving it upward. Her back straightened up and she exhaled. She turned to face him again.

"Better now?" She nodded.

"Thanks, yeah, I'm better." She looked down at her slippers that were _still_ wet and _still_ on her feet. "Can I borrow some slippers?" He nodded and lead her to his room again.

"Maybe we need to fix the zipper on your dress if you can't get it up all the way?" She laughed with him.

"Maybe," He bend over in front of his computer and picked up the idem she had previously asked for, handing them to her. She thanked him.

The three ended up spending the whole morning, and afternoon, cleaning up the cafe. Akasaka took care of the front yard and window, while Ryou took care of the kitchen. Ichigo was left to the tables out in the front dining room. There was alot of sweeping and sponging going on. Every now and then, the three would agree on a radio station. And every now and then, they would take a break in the partly clean kitchen for a snack. They set up fans in various places to keep from pretty much melting in the summer heat. On one of the four occasions where they took snack breaks, Ryou had run over to the next sandwich shop across the street and picked up some lunch for he and his friends. The blond and red head sat on the kitchen counter next to each other, side by side, and shared their food. He laughed at her over sized slippers while she played with his hair.

And that was when she realized, Ryou had always been the second in line. As much as she didn't want to admit it, Aoyama always came first. Mint was right, now that he was out of the picture, Ichigo had jumped right on Shirogane Ryou. For this, she felt shallow, like Ryou was second best. He didn't deserve that. The way he looked at her was a deep beaming stare. Their relationship was odd. She could admit that. It was almost like, when they were alone, they could be together, but when there were other people around, she acted hateful or resistant. There were things physiologically wrong with ichigo, but you were sure not to notice it from the outside.

Maybe she should have just gone home with Kisshu to his planet after all, life was tough here on Earth.

After the afternoon passed and the evening rolled around, she gave into letting Ryou drive her home. She gathered her wet clothes, dry now, from the bathroom floor, returning Ryou's slippers to him. The sun had come up, and now they found that it was going down again. She had been surprised when none of the other Mews had shown up to help. Hadn't they been alerted. But what was it to her now that everything was fixed. Window and all. Ryou pulled Akasaka's car around front and Ichigo climbed inside the passenger seat and smiled at her driver. He took her straight home after a long day of work. He turned on her street and arrived at her home, parking next to the mailbox. She faced him and opened her mouth to speak.

"Thanks, see you tomorrow," He didn't say anything, it looked like he was trying to find something to say, or he was getting ready to do something. A couple seconds passed, until Ichigo opened the door and he moved over near her, reaching across the car to pull her close. He kissed her square on the lips. They broke away and now he could speak.

"See you tomorrow." She covered her mouth with her hand and got out of the car, walking quickly into the house, a huge smile plastered on her face. She glanced back at his car, pulling out and driving away, through her family room window. His kisses were different than Aoyama's. She appreciated them more.

**I don't like it at all.**

**I hate this story so bad. The ony reason I'm posting is because I have already written it. Ughh, I hate it!**


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